Love2Chow

Wine, Olives & Cookies - Three Days in Paso Robles with a stop in Solvang

February 14, 2022

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Eight Treasures Sticky Rice Bundt Cake: Ringing in the Lunar New Year with Ba Bao Fan 八寶飯

February 10, 2022

We celebrated the first weekend in the Year of the Tiger with a dumpling wrapping party -- the first since the pandemic. It was great fun to get together with friends and family again. After enjoying all-you-can-eat pork-cabbage dumplings, gluten-free crystal dumplings, and various potluck sides, the evening was capped with this spectacular (and surprisingly easy) Instant Pot riff on a festive Chinese treat. Ba Bao Fan 八寶飯 literally translates to Eight Treasures Rice.

Instant Pot Bundt Pan Ba Bao Fan - a traditionally flavored, sweet sticky rice cake

Thanks to the pandemic, I had plenty of time for online cooking courses in the MasterClass series. These in turn gave me the confidence to try making a recipe for spring rolls that I had clipped and carried around with me for over 4 decades. Although I did not much care for the shrimp-snow pea filling because the soy sauce masked the delicate flavors of the main ingredients, I found myself making spring rolls over and over again, basing my seasonings on Grace Young's vegetable spring roll recipe in The Breath of a Wok. What I did learn from that old recipe was how simple it was to make spring roll wrappers. Can't get to the Asian Market for wrappers? No problem if you have flour, water and a pastry brush!

Among my more ambitious cooking endeavors was this beautiful, rich mushroom-topped celebration rice cake, based on a vegan recipe I found online by Yotam Ottolenghi. I had trouble finding some of the ingredients, so I adapted the recipe inspired by childhood memories of Ba Bao Fan 八寶飯. I also wanted to save time by figuring out how to make it using a Bundt pan that fit perfectly in my 6 quart Instant Pot. It was stunning to both eye and tongue!

A riff on Ba Bao Fan with 8 savory treasures, modified from Ottolenghi's Celebration Sticky Rice Cake

Interestingly, I learned that "Bundt" itself was a word invented by Dave Dalquist by adding a "t" to part of the German word bundkuchen. Although Google translate suggests it might mean anything from a Federation of Cakes to just a bunch of cakes, the Norway House website states that bundkuchen means "a cake for a gathering." So perfect for a lunar New Year celebration... albeit by Zoom for 2021

Pork-cabbage and red cabbage-carrot filled dumplings waiting to be cooked

So when it came time to plan the finale for our 2022 Dumpling Club party to ring in the Year of the Tiger (now that everyone is vaccinated and boosted), I decided to try making a more traditional, sweet Ba Bao Fan 八寶飯 in a Bundt pan for extra pizzazz.

Shortcut to the recipe.

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Hikes

Spectacular Short Coastal Hikes in the San Diego Area: Razor Point and Annie's Canyon Trail

January 10, 2022

During a New Year's 2022 family gathering near San Diego, we enjoyed outdoor cooking, hiking and reading in the sunshine. We revisited the spectacular Torrey Pines shoreline and discovered a hidden canyon gem in the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Preserve. Each of these featured hikes is less than 2 miles round trip.

California is known for its stunning and varied landscapes. In addition to its nine National Parks, a network of state parks and local parks offer new discoveries for every trip. One of my favorite places is Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, south of the Monterey area. On a family trip around 5th grade, this was where I took my very first hike, and we happily walked every trail in the reserve. About 30 years later, I was able to take my own family to Point Lobos. The big thrill was hearing a tapping noise that led to seeing my first sea otter in the wild.

We were able to enjoy exploring the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve a bit more frequently as it was closer to my home growing up. On this trip in 2022, we were limited in time to a single trail so we selected a route with some of the most iconic views of these dramatic wind- and rain-etched cliffs.

We also discovered new hikes in the San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve, a San Diego County Park. While our initial path was stymied by an impassible area (without waders) due to the recent rainstorm, we were able to find an alternative dog-friendly loop past reed-lined lagoons and bright red prickly pears on the east side of the preserve.

East side of San Elijo Preserve

Then we drove to the western end of the preserve where we discovered the narrow Slot Canyon portion of Annie's Canyon Trail, which was a lot of fun.

Coming up Slot Canyon in the one way portion of Annie's Canyon Trail

Dogs are not allowed in the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, but my sister's chow chows enjoyed hiking the trails around the San Elijo area and going for walks in the neighborhood.

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

There are few vistas more striking than the wind- and water-etched red-tan cliffs at Torrey Pines. Although the state beach attracts a lot of visitors, filling up the parking lots, to me the true beauty of this area requires a walk or drive up to the top of the cliffs.

Red sandstone cliffs from the Beach Trail

Torrey Pines is named for the most rare type of pine tree in the US -- Pinus torreyana, with its big pine cones, long thin needles and leaning, twisted wind-sculpted branches. I believe at our last visit, I read that the few remaining pines are genetically identical, contributing to their fragility. The Torrey Pine grows only here and on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park.

Torrey Pine

Nov. 2023 update: The Torrey pines in La Jolla are genetically identical, but the groves on Santa Rosa Island are slightly different, with larger cones and denser branches. Click here for our hike to see them.

The reserve also includes one of the last natural salt marshes in the state, but we did not have a chance to visit this area.

On this trip, we brought my 89 year-old mother, who was limited to walking among the benches along the top of the ridge and a short segment of the Guy Fleming trail before we had to return for a Zoom call with other family members. So we limited our main hike to a single loop with high yield views.

West Overlook

This is a short, flat gentle trail that leads to some nice ocean viewpoints with benches. Red Butte dominates the vista, with scattered Torrey Pines rising above the short bushy shrubs characteristic of chaparral vegetation.

Red Butte and a distant Torrey pine from lookout near parking area

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Eat in

A Warm Bowl of Chili

December 27, 2021

When the weather turns cool, nothing is more satisfying than a nice bowl of chili. And a chili bar certainly makes for stress-free entertaining, accommodating vegan, carnivore and everyone in between! These four chili recipes -- chipotle black bean chili, white bean chicken chili, chipotle red and white chili with sausage, and a hearty vegetarian chili -- have become our go-to recipes over the decades They are simple, wholesome, delicious and adaptable.

Three of the four chili recipes below utilize canned beans as a shortcut. The fourth was the very first chili we tried making, and perhaps the most popular. With an Instant Pot, the whole world of interesting beans becomes available. We enjoy heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo, and have made most of the quick chilis also using dried beans. During the summer, feel free to add in any fresh peppers that you find!

A riff on Chipotle Black Bean Chili with fresh garden fennel fronds and pickled peppers

Toppings for chili are limited only by your imagination. Some of our favorites include:

•shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, jack, crumbled cojita)

•scallions

•cilantro

•avocado

•lime juice

•cooked chopped bacon

•chopped red or yellow onion

•Sriracha sauce

•Cholula sauce

•Sarasota Heat hot sauce

•Texas Pete hot sauce

•tortilla chips

•plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (optional: mix in a tsp of lime juice or ranch seasoning to taste)

Chipotle Red and White Chili with sausage and toppings

Vegetable Chili (Vegan except for optional toppings)

The chopped vegetables in this chili make for such hearty bites that no one ever notices that it is vegetarian, and it usually disappears first. If no one has dietary restrictions, we usually do not label it. More recently, we have noticed that if we do label it to accommodate our vegan friends, then some people do not let themselves have the chance to enjoy it. What a strange phenomenon.

Dried kidney beans are the base for this chili, but I recently made it with a blend of pinto beans and kidney beans to a nice visual effect. The array of vegetables was inspired by the Vegetarian Chili in Chili Madness by Jane Butel, but I use a different method of thickening the chili and a different set of seasonings.

Shortcut to the printable Love2Chow recipe.

Vegetable Chili using dried kidney and pinto beans

Love2Chow Vegetable Chili

2 1/2 cups dried kidney beans, soaked overnight in 2-3" of water to cover

2 Tbs olive oil

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs Penzey's Chili 9000

2 Tbs Penzey's Medium Hot Chili Powder

2 tsp salt (adjust down if using chili powder with salt in it)

Optional, crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican)

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Up to 1 small can tomato paste

1 1/2 green or yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and coarsely chopped

Toppings (see above, or step 4 for suggestions)

Soaking half a pound each of dried red kidney and pinto beans

1. In the morning, add more water to beans if necessary to keep them submerged. Test for softness. Drain and rinse when just tender, or they will start to fall apart during cooking. Transfer to a large, heavy saucepan with water to cover. Bring to boil over high head, then lower heat and continue boiling the beans, partially covered, until tender, about 1 h. Watch the water level carefully and add to keep beans in liquid.

OR add unsoaked beans to Instant Pot with 1 inch of water to cover. Cook at high pressure for 30 min in an Instant Pot, let sit for 20 min for natural release. (Cook 20 min if soaked overnight).

Mise on place for Vegetable Chili

2. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic until translucent. Add celery, carrots, tomatoes, lemon juice, and all the spices. Cook, covered, until the vegetables are nearly tender, about 10-15 min. Add the bell peppers and cook another 10 min.

3. Add the beans and the water in which they cooked. Stir thoroughly and simmer for 30 min over low heat, adding tablespoons of either tomato paste or water as necessary to achieve desired texture, stirring to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pot.

This batch of Vegetable Chili was a bit soupier due to use of Instant Pot. Next time will use less water in Instant Pot, or reserve the cooking water and not add it all to the chili.

4. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with tortilla chips, chopped red onion, chopped scallions, avodaco slices, and lime to keep it vegan; add shredded cheddar and jack cheeses, plain yogurt spiked with lime juice or ranch seasoning for vegetarians. Add crumbled bacon or cooked sausage for the carnivores.

Vegetarian chili using red kidney and yellow-eyed beans from Rancho Gordo.

The next three chili recipes were modified from Superfast Suppers by Cooking Light magazine, which was published in 2002. I almost always substitute fresh garlic or onions, and it is pretty easy to use dried beans if you have time. See Love2Chow tips, below.

Chipotle Red & White Bean Chili Omit sausage for vegan.

This is one of my favorite quick chili recipes. It looks pretty, tastes great, and is simple to make. While it calls for crumbled sweet Italian sausage, I have also made it as a vegetarian chili. I had some fresh poblano chiles, cubanelle chiles and carrots from a friend's garden, which I added in with the the bell peppers, and served it with optional sausage on the side for toppings.

Shortcut to the printable recipe.

Chipotle Red & White Bean Chili with sausage

Chipotle Red & White Bean Chili. Serves 4, total time 20 min.

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 pound pork sausage (sweet Italian)

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1-2 Tbs. Penzey's Bold Taco seasoning or 1 Tbs each Bold Taco (has salt) and Penzey's 9000 (no salt)

1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican style diced tomatoes, drained

1 (8 oz) can no-salt added tomato sauce

1 (15 oz) can no salt added red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (19 oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

2 chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, chopped, plus 2 tsp adobe sauce from can

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Toppings (see above, or step 4 for suggestions)

1. Cook onion, sausage and peppers, Drain and return to pan.

Sauteeing orange pepper and poblano chiles (instead of green) for this batch.

2. Add seasoning, tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, cannellini beans, and chipotle peppers

Our favorite seasonings for this chili

3. Bring to boil, cover and simmer at least 5 min.

Chipotle Red & White Chili right after mixing in beans

4. Serve with fresh cilantro, and optional corn bread, avocado, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

Chipotle Red & White Chili with toppings

White Bean Chicken Chili

This is my husband's favorite chili to make and eat. Part of the beans are pureed to thicken this delightful creamy chili.

Shortcut to the printable recipe

White Bean Chicken Chili

White Bean Chicken Chili.

1 tsp olive oil

1 red onion (~150 g), chopped (~ 1 cup)

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 (15.5 oz) cans cannellini beans - do NOT drain

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup of no salt added chicken broth

1.5 tsp Penzey's Arizona Dreaming seasoning (or other salt-free Mexican seasoning)

1 cup (4 oz w) shredded pepper jack cheese

~1/4 tsp salt, to taste

1. Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in Dutch oven until translucent.

2. Mash one can of beans with a fork. Add both mashed and unmashed beans with their water and the next three ingredients to the pot. Bring to a booil and simmer 15-20 min.

3. Add cheese, stirring constantly, until melted. Salt to taste.

4. Serve with chopped fresh cilantro, chopped green onions, plain yogurt, salsa, or crushed tortilla chips.

Chipotle Black Bean Chili (Vegan except for optional toppings)

This is my husband's favorite chili to make and eat. Part of the beans are pureed to thicken this delightful creamy chili.

Shortcut to the printable recipe.

Chipotle Black Bean Chili

Chipotle Black Bean Chili (makes 6 2-cup servings).

2 tsp olive oil

10 oz (w) chopped onion

3 Tbs minced garlic

3 Tbs chili powder (Penzey's medium hot chili powder is salt-free)

2 canned chipotle chiles, minced, plus 1-2 Tbs. adobo sauce

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt or more to taste

4 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or 2 cups dried, precooked)

4 (14.5 oz) cans no salt added diced tomatoes with juice

1 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chiles with juice

Toppings (See below)

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender about 2 min. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 min, stirring occasionally.

OR transfer sauteed onion and garlic to slow cooker, add remaining ingredients and slow cook for at least an hour. It can be kept warm and served out of the slow cooker.

A double recipe of black bean chili in slow cooker

Serve with toppings of choice (shredded cheddar, cilantro, scallions, onions, bacon bits, tortilla chips, hot sauce)

Freeze leftovers in 1 or 2 cup portions. As mentioned in Superfast Suppers, this can be used as a hamburger topper, or be incorporated into enchilada casseroles, turkey chili mac, chili pie with zucchini and corn under corn bread mix.

A triple recipe of Chipotle Black Bean Chili with toppings bar

🐾 For each 15 oz can of beans, I usually get about 1.3-1.5 cups of drained beans. Since dry beans swell about 3x, substitute 1/2 cup of dry for each 15 oz can. Or just make a bit of extra and measure out the beans after they are cooked.

🐾 Freeze cubed leftover chicken or turkey in 1 cup portions, to be pulled out when you feel like chicken chili.

🍃 When you open a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, be sure to freeze the extra peppers in an ice cube tray, with the sauce spooned on top. They usually thaw pretty quickly for chopping, or puree the whole thing and freeze tablespoons that can be added directly to the chili.

DID YOU TRY ANY OF THESE RECIPES? What is your favorite homemade chili?

Please post comments below or photos to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter

Tag @love2chowblog and hashtag it #love2chow

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All Rights Reserved. Contact admin@love2chow.com for permissions.

https://www.love2chow.com/2021/12/a-warm-bowl-of-chili.html

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Cookbooks

Chicken Scallopine Piccata with Caper Berries

October 24, 2021

The first time I had this lemony rich version of chicken piccata, I fell in love with Cerignola olives and caper berries. We had just eaten at the now closed Lidia's Pittsburgh, and I immediately bought Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen. Making this dish at home is even more satisfying. It is a surprisingly easy way to get a kid- and nanny-pleasing meal on the table! And its rich flavors & do ahead ease with a quick finish make for a great, visually pleasing meal for guests as well.

Gluten-free chicken scallopine piccata

At its simplest, chicken piccata is flavored with lemon, capers, butter and maybe some wine. This is the most robustly delicious version I have ever tried, and it is rather easy to make.

I did not expect that the strong flavors in this dish would appeal to so many -- from young children to a nanny that likes plain hamburgers with all the toppings removed. I started off making the dish simply because I loved it, expecting perhaps some complaints because pickled items with a strong flavor often do not appeal to kids. But these flavors marry so well with the rich lemon and briny olive notes (x3) perfectly counterbalanced against the soothing buttery olive oil, all carried to the mouth by extremely tender chicken.

After browning the scallopini, a pan sauce is made. To finish the dish, rewarm the chicken in the sauce and top with parsley.

The true secrets to this dish are the lemon slices fried in butter and olive oil and the large buttery Cerignola olives. Pounding the chicken into thin slices means they cook very quickly are stay amazingly tender. And of course, the caper berries add another level of excitement. Although the recipe says to remove the lemon slices along with the garlic, I think they look beautiful and have caught people fighting over who gets to eat them!

The Restaurant

There are lots of chicken piccatas out there. But the lemon-butter-caper sauce of versions I had tried growing up came across as rather pedestrian and bland, weighed down by excess breading, despite the promise of those three ingredients. Everything changed for me when my husband and I dined at Lidia's Pittsburgh for the first time about 20 years ago. Lidia Bastianich is a popular PBS cooking star, and it was exciting to discover her newly opened restaurant in the Steel City.

Lidia's on May 21, 2019. This would have been my last time eating here before they closed in Sept. 2019, but unfortunately the broken water main down the road took out their water.

This sublime dish is simply entitled Pollo al Limone on the menu, consisting of chicken breast, roasted lemon, capers, Cerignola olives and served with a side of velvety spinach. The flavors were bold - briny, lemony and rich. And the mound of bright green spinach was truly velvety, complementing the chicken perfectly.

There were three different sources of green-olive-like flavor: the sliced olives, tiny round capers with lemony floral overtones, and occasional rich bites of something else...

Flavor bombs: garlic, olives, caper berries, capers, lemon, dry white wine

When we first enjoyed the dish, we noted some stemmed, olive green, teardrop-shaped fruits that were full of tiny, edible seeds in addition to the usual small round capers. We inquired with the waiter, who informed us that they were caper berries. While capers represent the unopened flower bud, caper berries are formed from the fertilized fruit of the caper plant.

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Eat in

Chinese Spinach Soup with Silken Tofu

October 10, 2021

This is a quick and easy soup to make, light and refreshing with emerald slivers of spinach and tiny white cubes of tofu suspended in a silky clear broth. I enjoy topping it with tiny cubes of pink Prosciutto (similar to Chinese dry cured hams) for an added punch, but it is equally enjoyable with vegan toppings such as mushrooms or chili crisp.

Spinach silken tofu soup in chicken broth with crisp prosciutto bits

My father's family hails from Jiangsu, China, famed for one of the great regional cuisines of China. While growing up, I remember him talking about Lion Head Meatballs and West Lake Beef Soup. However, my parents thought the subtle and natural flavors highlighted in this style of cooking would not appeal to their American kids as much as the stronger flavored Sichuan dishes or richer Cantonese dim sum.

It was not until I was older that I realized the delicious, braised red-cooked (紅燒; hóngshāo; 'red braised') beef or chicken (which my mother simplified to be prepared so easily she named it "Lazy Chicken"), which we enjoyed so often, originated in the Su region before propagating out to other areas of China.

Thanks to Grace Young's cookbook The Breath of a Wok, I even got a chance to make my own Lion Head Meatballs, and I found that I loved the lighter flavors from my Dad's home town as highlighted in Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Fish and Rice, as much as I liked the spicy, pickled or fermented Jiangxi dishes of my Mom's. Possibly the most famous export of this region are the Chinese Soup Dumplings or pork xiao long bao (小笼包), made famous by the Taiwan-based chain Din Tai Fong.

Similar to the famous West Lake Beef soup, this gorgeous soup gets it silky mouthfeel from just the right amount of thickening of a clear broth with a cornstarch-water mixture at the end of cooking. This recipe is based on a spinach pork soup in The Land of Fish and Rice, but I found that the pork added a distracting texture without contributing to a richer flavor.

I happened to have some fried prosciutto bits lying around from another recipe, and the meat containing version of this soup was born. Dry cured ham from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Yunnan provinces are famed for their deep, rich flavor, but are hard to find in the US. My mother used to substitute Smithfield ham. Proscuitto is not quite as flavorful, but is similar to Jinhua ham, and adds a beautiful festive color.

By eliminating the need to cook the pork, the preparation was even further simplified. Best of all the soup is easily made vegan depending on the topping selected.

Vegetarian spinach silken tofu soup with vegetable stock and Sichuan Chili Crisp topping

We have enjoyed it with proscuitto bits, stirfried shiitake mushrooms, or simply a drizzle of Sichuan Chili Crisp or Sriracha sauce on top.

Love2Chow Chinese Spinach and Silken Tofu Soup

5-8 oz (w) of trimmed spinach, washed well

14-17 oz (w) silken tofu

1 Tbs canola oil

3-4 oz (w) prosciutto bits or mushrooms cut into 1/4 inch cubes (optional)

1/2 Tbs Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1 quart stock (chicken or vegetable)

3 Tbs cornstarch or potato starch dissolved in 4.5 Tbs of cold water

1 Tbs rendered chicken fat (optional)

Salt

Ground white pepper

1. Line up the spinach leaves and tender stems, roll up, and slice into the thinnest possible slivers. Cut the tofu into 1/4 inch cubes

2. Heat oil in a wok, Dutch oven or soup pot until it shimmers. Add proscuitto bits and/or mushroom cubes, if using, and allow to brown. Remove the bits to cool on a paper towel.

3. Stir in Shaoxing wine to deglaze the pan. Then add stock and tofu, bringing everything to a gentle boil.

4. Stir in spinach and return to a boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Re-stir the starch mixture until well mixed. Add 2-3 Tbs and stir in. The soup should quickly thicken. If necessary, add a Tbs at a time until the soup has a silky consistency and the bits of tofu and spinach are suspended.

6. Stir in chicken fat if using, and serve with prosciutto or other optional toppings.

Shortcut to the Love2Chow recipe.

DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE? Post comments or questions below.

Post photos on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, tag @love2chowblog and hashtag it #love2chow!

https://www.love2chow.com/2021/10/chinese-spinach-soup-with-silken-tofu.html

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Search This Blog

Wine, Olives & Cookies - Three Days in Paso Robles with a stop in Solvang

Eight Treasures Sticky Rice Bundt Cake: Ringing in the Lunar New Year with Ba Bao Fan 八寶飯

Spectacular Short Coastal Hikes in the San Diego Area: Razor Point and Annie's Canyon Trail

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

West Overlook

A Warm Bowl of Chili

Vegetable Chili (Vegan except for optional toppings)

The next three chili recipes were modified from Superfast Suppers by Cooking Light magazine, which was published in 2002. I almost always substitute fresh garlic or onions, and it is pretty easy to use dried beans if you have time. See Love2Chow tips, below.

Chipotle Red & White Bean Chili Omit sausage for vegan.

White Bean Chicken Chili

Chipotle Black Bean Chili (Vegan except for optional toppings)

Chicken Scallopine Piccata with Caper Berries

The Restaurant

Chinese Spinach Soup with Silken Tofu

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